You know when you’re not getting enough of something (food-wise) when you keep dreaming of big slabs of the stuff. What I’m dreaming of would curl a vegan/vegetarian’s hair!

You know it’s d*mn cold when the large saucer of water left out for the birds has frozen.

You know you need to be careful what you touch when you get very static. Whenever it gets very cold, I get very static. Over the years I’ve broken a pair of glasses – I will never buy plastic frames again, 2 hairbrushes - just by touching my hair, and a state-of-the-art IBM printer - all I did was touch it. My Mum was the same: many decades ago, she was a nurse. She was making a hospital bed and a man tried to pinch her bum and got a dislocated thumb for his troubles; she didn’t touch him; it was from a static shock. I keep damping down my hair, trying to keep the static at bay lol.

You know you’re working too much when it pervades your dreams almost every night.

You know you’ve been watching too much X-Files (again) when you dream of robots and aliens.

Workwise, I found something out this week. I’d put in a pay query as my pay didn’t quite tally with the hours I’ve worked. The query was bounced back to my supervisor, and she cleared something up for me. I’m hourly paid and I have ‘core’ hours. If I work over this time, I only get paid when the minutes tie in with each quarter hour. So, if my workday finishes at 11am, and I work until 12 minutes past 11, I don’t get paid for those 12 minutes. WTF! These past 10 months, they must have had literally hours and hours of work from me for nothing! From now on, I shall be clock-watching like a hawk to ensure I either finish on time, or just over each quarter hour limit. Same goes for the start of the working day. I’ve often started 5 minutes early, but now I know we’re not getting paid… This really should have been written into our contracts, or at least explained to us when we first started. I feel short-changed to say the least!

After leaving for work with the temperature in double figures recently, I’m back to scraping ice off my car again. Grrr. Tuesday, we had sleet, and even a few minutes of hailstones. I’m so fed up of being cold. Saturday it was 0C, and I left the store and walked out into a hailstorm. I didn’t order that!

I’ve no idea what has triggered this, but I’ve had a ‘sensitive’ stomach for days. I’ve barely eaten for 4 days as everything I eat, even just toast or porridge, gives me severe stomach pain. I’ve lost about 2 pounds so far, as I daren’t eat much. I haven’t done any overtime; I just can’t wait for my shift to end so I can go home and curl up in the armchair and do nothing much whilst my stomach continues to plague me. It’s been joined by the Mother of a headache though that could be simply lack of much food. Conversely, or even perversely, the Ship’s Dog has found his appetite recently and is eating like a horse! Oh well, at least he’s happy. Sunday, and I’m feeling much brighter in myself, and even had a little lunch. I’ll have some dinner with my son tonight and will hopefully now be on the mend. No idea what brought it on, though I am glad it seems to be clearing up now.

I treated myself to a new (half price) leather belt today. I’m almost on the last notch of the previous belt, and the ‘leftover’ belt is annoying me, so I bought a size smaller belt. Once I’ve lost some more weight, I’ll need to get new trousers. Now that the shops should be opening again from Monday, it will be easier buying new clothes.

Take care, be safe if out and about.